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Edinburgh boost box-office appeal after pulling off Larkham coup

STUART BATHGATE

EDINBURGH will announce their biggest signing in six years this afternoon when Stephen Larkham is welcomed on board. The stand-off, who turns 33 at the end of the month, played 95 times for Australia and was part of the team which won the Rugby World Cup in 1999.

The Capital team have just lost Simon Taylor, Rob Dewey and Dougie Hall among others, and will say goodbye to Scott Murray after this autumn's World Cup. They need a big-name arrival to help morale pick up, and hope that Larkham can do that, just as the former New Zealand captain Todd Blackadder did when he joined in 2001.

With some room for manoeuvre in their player budget, Edinburgh also hope to land a star winger either for the start of next season or after the World Cup. They are understood to have narrowed their search down to three All Blacks - Doug Howlett, Rico Gear and Sitiveni Sivivatu.

In common with other European teams in search of international recruits from further afield, Edinburgh will probably have to wait until the composition of the squads for the World Cup is announced before finalising their plans for next season. They already know they will be without their Scotland internationals for a large chunk of their Magners League programme next season, and want to ensure they have quality replacements. If they have to wait until the end of the year to secure talents such as Howlett, however, they will do so.

Whoever Edinburgh sign after today, however, will be hard pressed to match the impact of Larkham, who has been one of the outstanding players in world rugby over the past decade. Although during his early days as a professional he was so withdrawn and taciturn that he was nicknamed 'Bernie' after the corpse in the film Weekend At Bernie's, the Canberra-born No10 soon matured into a commanding presence, and formed a half-back partnership with Wallabies scrum-half George Gregan which set new standards. Larkham made his international debut as a replacement against Wales in 1996, the same year he signed for the ACT Brumbies. He played at Murrayfield, Edinburgh's home ground, in the Autumn Test against Scotland in 1997, scoring two tries in an Australian victory.

By the following year, when Scotland toured Australia, Larkham was firmly established as a key component of a Wallabies side which was steadily and scientifically preparing for the World Cup. When that tournament came around in 1999, the Australians proved to be unbeatable.

Much of that was thanks to their defence, a meticulously organised side of their game which saw them concede only a single try in the six games they played. But Larkham was also instrumental in launching many of the attacks which his team-mates finished off so ruthlessly.

He won his 50th cap in 2002, in the first Test against South Africa, and was again a key player in the World Cup of the following year. Playing on home ground, Australia made their way to the final, but lost to the favourites, England, in extra-time.

Larkham remained a Wallabies regular up to the final Test of 2004, which he had to sit out due to a broken arm. Injury and illness also disrupted his season in 2005 - he missed much of the Super 12 tournament after having a melanoma cut away from behind his left knee, and then again broke his arm.

Compared to early forecasts that a player so slightly built would be injury-prone, however, Larkham has proved remarkably robust. His primary task at Edinburgh will simply be to establish himself as the key playmaker in the back division, but beyond that he can be expected to play an exemplary role in the maintenance of high standards.

Blackadder did exactly that during his time with Edinburgh, first of all by showing how demanding he was on himself, and then by encouraging his team-mates to do the same. Larkham should be able to emulate the former All Black captain and help Edinburgh find their way again.

The signing of such an experienced internationalist will surely come as a relief to the consortium who run Edinburgh. Having lost so many of their best-known players, they have been eager to recruit someone with box-office appeal - not only for the sake of attendances, but also to show that the traffic in Scottish rugby does not have to be one-way, and that talent can come into the country as well as go out. Certainly, persuading someone of Larkham's stature to sign on the dotted line can only help their credibility within the game.

Glasgow, meanwhile, hope they will soon be able to confirm the signings of three internationals: the All Blacks centre Darryl Gibson, the Scotland flanker Kelly Brown, who is expected to move from the now-defunct Border Reivers, and the Samoa winger Lome Fa'atau.

Sean Lineen's team have already secured the services of Hall from Edinburgh, Michael Collins from the Waikato Chiefs, and Chris O'Young from Western Force. Edinburgh were also interested in Gibson, but are understood to have decided not to get into a bidding war for the player with their Scottish rivals.

This article: http://sport.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=743862007[/b]


Lucky buggers
 
Very good signing for Edinburgh... Although how will Larkham deal with the weather changes...
 
Go to Toulouse you arsehole - keep them away from McAlister.
[/b]

Hmm, not so cast iron sure about whether he's going to stay or go? :)

P.s if this doesn't pull in punters to Edinburgh I have no idea what will other than getting Strathclyde Police to abduct 60,000 random people every weekend for three hours.
 
Dunno why Strathclyde police would be involved, I don't want no weegies!


Great signing for us. Exactly what we need and it gives us the option of playing Godman or Southwell at 13...both better than Di Rollo. Says alot of the intentions of Howells and the Curruthers brothers, and more signings like this won't go a miss. We need centres, and a experienced prop to play along Smith and to push Chunk alot more. Perhaps the signing of Larkham will bring other big names to Embra.


It's actually not that cold in Edinburgh between May and September either. Just rains alot.
 
with some of the talent they have in the backs and they way they like the play, they could be a real force next year, especially with the array of passes this guy will bring to the side.
 
No doubt there is talent there, but the side will be rather inexperienced next year with us losing so many players. I'm confident though, that because we won't have as many internationalists leaving us and hopefully injuries will be kinder to us, that next year will see us put a consistant challenge for the ***le. Not just one that dies away around Februrary because half our squad has gone off on international duty.
 
he will leave a massive hole for brumbies... [/b]
True, but he has to leave sometime. It will just give a younger players more of a chance and enable development for the years to come.
 
good on the scots catching gud ole larkham. they need as much help as possible from the looks of it
 
larkham is probly the best 5/8 ever. he doesnt have the goal kicking ability of the rest of the greats but his ability to put a man through a gap is second to none. He also has an icnredible ability of breakin the line everyime he decides to run and for a skinny guy, hes an outstanding defender
 
What sort of standard is Scottish rugby these days? Anyone else of note in the team?
 
What sort of standard is Scottish rugby these days? Anyone else of note in the team? [/b]

Chris Patterson, the best fly half Scotland never had (because everyone keeps playing him at every position but fly half), Mike Blair and someone else whos name escapes me. Sadly though, allot of Edinburgh and Scotland players have moved out of Scotland, signing with Welsh & Irish Magners League teams, English teams and French teams.
 
Blair, Larkham, Paterson, De Luca, Cairns& Webster, that sone dangerous backline
 
Very dangerous but their pack is a bit lightweight it has let them down in the past when playing notoriously physical teams like Munster or Ulster.
 

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